Rena Leinberger's work has been exhibited in solo shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Gallery 400 at University of Illinois of Chicago, Zg Gallery (Chicago), the Evanston Art Center (Evanston, Illinois) and 1R Gallery (Chicago); and a commissioned public project by the NYC DOT’s Urban Art Program (Queens, New York). Her work has been included in group shows internationally in Germany, Great Britain, Argentina and the United Arab Emirates. She has also been included in group exhibitions at Queens Museum of Art, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Smack Mellon (Brooklyn, New York), Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art at Snug Harbor Cultural Center (Staten Island, New York), CUE Art Foundation (New York), Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art - MASS MoCA , the Urban Institute of Contemporary Art (Grand Rapids, Michigan), and the City of San Antonio International Center, among others.

Awards include grants from the Joan Mitchell Foundation, a sponsored residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York, several SUNY Research and Creative Project Grants, residencies at threewalls and Catwalk, and a fellowship in the Bronx Museum's AIM program. She was recently a participant in Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's Swing Space residency program on Governors Island, New York, and an artist-in-residence at Dickinson College.

Her work has been reviewed in Sculpture Magazine, FiberArts, Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Reader, New City, Artnet, ArtSlant, Bridge Magazine, mouthtomouth and the Brooklyn Rail, among others.